Cinematography : Equipment Question by Tony Ray

I mount my Ronin on a jib and use the remote as well as the jib movement

A tripod that can move automatically… Starting with a basic pan and tilt, the movements can get more and more complex. Much of the answer depends upon the meaning of “automatically”.

To me the closest to automatic would be a Motion Control camera set up, which will repeat a shot exactly accurate for every frame, in a specific time, again and again, with an exact starting and stopping position. Once set, you press a button to start the motion and the programming of the gear does everything else. Automatically. This would move the camera on a head in 3 axis motion; pan tilt and rotation, as well as control a boom arm up and down, and a chassis on a track forward and back as well as controlling zoom, focus and iris on the lens.

A remote control tripod head can be programmed or work in real time with an operator controlling it. Pan, tilt and rotate, as well as stabilized or not are common. The fewer functions that are controlled the cheaper the unit is. The remote can be a mechanical setup or an electronic one. With electronics, the operator can be far away from the actual camera limited only by any delay in the signal, getting from the camera to the operator and then back again. These heads can be mounted on tripods, dollies, jibs, cranes, etc.

There are cameras that come with remote control heads. PTZ (Pan, Tilt, Zoom) cameras are often used in situations where an operator and camera would be physical intrusive of difficult to place. They are often used in shooting presentations, churches, schools, and similar non-broadcast uses. Recently I’ve looked at both the Sony and Panasonic top of the line cameras as they now have 4K imagers and some reasonable lenses plus image stabilization. At the demonstration of the Sony there was also an automatic tracking feature mainly aimed at following a speaker around a stage in a medium shot. Tell it which object to follow and it just seemed to work decently well. That was as close to “automatic” as anything I’ve seen working in real time. These cameras shot images of high enough quality that I could see adapting them for some specific purposes but of course since seeing these demos I’ve had nothing come up where they could be a consideration.

Perhaps you could tell us a little more about what you wish to do so that suggestions can be more focused (I’ve been told that is a good thing related to cameras) on specific products.

I'm planning on filming a short. One of the shots is a pan shot following a character's path around a bar from behind it. The setting of the scene is dark, with only one light on. Budget's fairly tight (I know, not the best circumstances).

Ahh... You're looking for something that will automatically track an actor even if you can't see them?

There are a few systems I’ve heard of that use tracking beacons hidden on the actor. “Soloshot” is one of them but I know there are more. Some come with proprietary cameras while others can utilize a variety of available cameras. Sounds like some time on the web is in order, maybe search for “automatic camera tracking beacon”. I have never seen any of these systems operating in person so cannot comment on how good they are.

Is your issue that the bar is so dark you feel you will not see the actor to frame properly, or that you are the whole crew and actor and you don’t have anyone to operate the camera?

If there is no one to operate, set the sequence up as a series of cuts from different angles and you will be fine. Or maybe mount the camera on a chest rig on the actor with the camera looking at the actor so they are framing themselves as they run around the bar carrying the camera. There are lots of approaches you can use to create a feel and effect. But that is probably to the issue.

If the problem you foresee is that it will be too dark to frame the actor, that is less serious than you might think though, and in all likelihood will not need any specialized gear. Tight budget is not the issue as most current cameras will get some sort of an image in a normally lit bar. If you wish to keep it looking very dark, there are many artistic approaches than will give you the feel of dark without being so dark you cannot see the character. Easiest is to light the background and not the actor. A few practicals, like beer signs and you are good to go. To make it feel even darker or without any in frame practicals, try lighting the lower 1/3 of the frame only or lighting more of the frame but using a large cookie cut out of cardboard to give you some dabs of light in the background. Add some subtle colour and it looks dark but you can frame as you can see the silhouette of the actor. At night hard light and sharp shadows are your friends.

In general, if you are shooting movement and the subject is obscured for a moment, assume the movement continues unchanged and keep the camera moving at a constant rate. Surprisingly easy to pick up the subject perfectly on the other side.

More along the lines of "I am the whole crew". All great suggestions!

Do whatever you have to do to make your short. The work-around you come up with, a film-making solution, will be a learning experience and a benefit in the long run. The cost of specialized equipment is likely to be more than the cost of your other options, but you will have to do the comparison and see.

Nothing wrong with the auteur approach to a picture, it is a time honored tradition and we’ve all done it or something akin to it. Just another challenge. You can laugh about it when you screen the finished project.

Get a camera operator to shoot it-too easy.

Get someone to shoot it is an answer but not to the question posed nor the circumstances stated in this instance. The OP would probably have done that if it was within the scope of the shoot.